2025: Dutch M&A Market for Digital Agencies

IN COOPERATION WITH INDUSTRY MAGAZINE EMERCE

Following our in-depth analysis of the Dutch M&A market for digital agencies in 2024, we continue to explore the evolving landscape of mergers and acquisitions in this dynamic sector. With a dedicated sector team and years of experience, CFI closely follows and shapes market developments and supported multiple successful transactions. Our ongoing dialogues and deals with international investors, platforms, agencies, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders provide us with a comprehensive understanding of the trends and forces driving this consolidation wave.

In our partnership with Emerce, the leading platform for agency news and known for its Emerce100, we combined our recent insights after our 2024 edition, to bring the latest findings in the “2025: M&A Market for Dutch Digital Agencies” report. This edition analyses the transaction landscape from 2020 to 2024 and highlights major movements and future expectations in this fast-evolving market.

The Benelux digital agency landscape

The digital agency market in the Benelux remains dynamic and fragmented, but continues to move toward consolidation. Agencies in both the Netherlands and Belgium are increasingly integrating into platforms, often backed by private equity. While some groups continue to operate under independent brands, others are consolidating under unified identities, with a clear focus on operational synergy and cross-selling. Technology, data and AI are playing a growing role in how platforms assess value and identify acquisition targets.

M&A deal trends and market sentiment

The report also outlines how buyers and sellers approach M&A processes, with insights into common deal structures and valuation ranges. Market sentiment remains cautiously optimistic, with strategic rationale increasingly taking precedence over purely financial motivations.

Year in review: 2024

While overall deal activity in 2024 showed a modest decline compared to the previous year, the market remained resilient in many respects. Q1 and Q3 were notably quiet, reflecting a cautious sentiment among investors and founders. Nonetheless, consolidation continued as a dominant theme, with investor-backed platforms actively pursuing acquisitions — particularly those with strong data, performance, and social capabilities.

The emergence of new platforms reaffirmed the ongoing attractiveness of the digital agency segment, while more mature platforms largely focused on integration. AI’s increasing presence in the market influenced acquisition appetite, as investors became more selective, especially toward agencies with content- and development-heavy propositions.

Outlook for 2025 and beyond

Looking ahead, the market is entering a new phase. Platforms launched between 2018 and 2020 are reaching the end of typical investment cycles, which may trigger a new wave of strategic exits or secondary buyouts. Alongside renewed investor interest, growing international appetite for scalable agency models, and broader European integration efforts, this could result in larger and more cross-border oriented deals.

At the same time, acquirers are expected to remain selective, influenced by evolving technologies, shifting client expectations, and the need for strategic alignment. In this increasingly competitive landscape, differentiation and clear positioning will be key for agency leaders considering their next steps.

Key developments observed

• A total of 51 transactions were completed in 2024, compared to 59 in 2023. This relatively lower deal activity was especially observed in Q1 and Q3.
• Over 250 digital agency deals were recorded in the Netherlands between 2020 and 2024, with Belgium also contributing several notable transactions over the same period.
• 43% of all 2024 deals were driven by investor-backed platforms, compared to 13% in 2023 and 57% in 2022.
• A strong shift towards domestic transactions: only 1 deal involved a foreign buyer, and 6 deals involved international targets — together accounting for roughly 14% of all deals in 2024, compared to 10% in 2023.
• Platforms focused their acquisition strategies on agencies with capabilities in performance marketing, social/PR and data, reflecting demand for measurable and scalable services.
• Fewer acquisitions were seen in content and development-heavy agencies, attributed in part to investor caution around the impact of AI on these segments.
• Several new platforms emerged in 2024 (e.g. Only, Indicia, Follo), while older platforms founded 5–6 years ago are expected to explore exit routes from 2H25 onwards.

To access the full report, please visit the Emerce website (note: an Emerce Team Subscription is required).

Get in touch with us

Would you like to explore how these market developments could impact your agency or investment strategy? You’re welcome to reach out to Sebastiaan Renting, Raoul Duysens or Wim Folens for more insights or a tailored introduction.